YouTube Video Distributor For PewDiePie And Other Popular Gaming Channels Purchased By Disney

The distributor of popular YouTube gaming personality videos like PewDiePie and TotalBiscuit, among many others, has been purchased by Disney for $500 million.

Maker Studios doesn't exclusively distribute gaming video content on YouTube, but it is among its most popular channels of the large network. YouTubers like those mentioned above, along with the popular Game Grumps and Yogscast channels all fall under Maker Studios' umbrella, but it also helps produce videos like those featured on the Epic Rap Battles of History channel.

Disney Purchased the network for $500 million, with the possibility of performance-based payouts of up to $450 million.

The purchase won't affect the content that appears on the assorted channels, and TotalBiscuit and PewDiePie have tweeted as much confirming this:

Yup, Disney now owns Maker so also owns Polaris. No idea what this means for us, but I'll make the content I want to make or go elsewhere.

The purchase was apparently made in effort by Disney to better reach the millennial generation of entertainment consumers according to Kevin Mayer, Disney executive vice president for corporate strategy, who tells Reuters, "This gives a presence online to reach the millennial group that is increasingly getting its video online."

Our TakeIt's unclear exactly how this purchase will affect the content of Maker Studios' network. It sounds like, in regard to PewDiePie and TotalBiscuit at least, if there is any request to change any aspect of their content, they will just leave – something they are certainly capable of doing with their committed audiences. It sounds like Disney just wants a piece of the YouTube action, as opposed to total control.

I like Pewdiepie...for the most part anyway. Sometimes his videos are annoying, but I've always found his charitable works to be especially admirable. This just makes me respect him all the more, because he strikes me as the sort who means what he says. If they ask him to change anything, I'm sure he'll leave.

If there's anything salty about this deal, TotalBiscuit will probably out the shenanigans before/as they happen. I'm not a huge fan of his content, but he's a strong advocate for content creators (and consumers), and he stands firmly by his principles.

Watch, this BS is going to get big when they bought Star Wars, then die down again. And When things get popular again, Disney will buy more gaming property and be one big Film/Animation/Gaming/Everything Entertainment corporation under The House of Mouse.
Maybe I'm a bit odd when I say that I'm sensing a pattern here, but it's an odd feeling. Hopefully such a thing never truly comes to pass.